Tax and Budget

Halfway through the state's fiscal year, General Fund revenues are right on target — exceeding official estimates by a scant $2 million, or 0.02%. Tax and other collections in December came in $40 million, or 1.7%, below the monthly target, largely erasing the modest revenue surplus that had been generated so far.

A decade of corporate tax cuts are a major reason that Pennsylvania is expected to have far fewer resources than it needs to pay for education, health care, and other essential services for years to come. Unless lawmakers reverse course and come up with additional revenue, our schools, communities, and families will continue to bear the brunt and our economy will suffer.

"Pennsylvania’s experience with business tax reduction is instructive," PBPC Director Sharon Ward testified. "Since 1998, the Commonwealth has reduced taxes to the tune of $3 billion annually. These large tax reductions have not had the desired impact. When business tax reductions were first enacted Pennsylvania ranked 27th in job creation. By 2010 we had fallen to 34th."

Efforts to reform property taxes in Pennsylvania have heated up in recent months, but the four major proposals currently before the General Assembly do not address the primary issue — that too few state dollars are used to support public schools.

A review of statements by representatives of shale drilling firms and their allies makes the motivation for this exaggeration clear — to preclude, or at least to minimize, taxation, regulation, and even careful examination of shale drilling.

View a map of Pennsylvania detailing county by county how many people, households, and children are impacted by a cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that took effect on November 1.

The future of Pennsylvania schools — and the quality of education every child receives — is at stake in the debate over property tax elimination in Harrisburg. Watch our short whiteboard video to learn more and then share it with your friends.